Stubborn people are so confident in their knowledge that even good advice just bounces right off them.

In this story, one know-it-all friend insisted he could handle strong tanning oil despite being warned repeatedly it would clash with his fair skin.

So before long, his beach trip quickly turned into a painful lesson in keeping your ego in check.

Keep reading for the full story!

A little light hearted malicious compliance with a long time friend

My friend—we’ll call him Tom for the purpose of the story—is the been-there-done-that, I-know-it-all type.

You know the guy who says things with utter confidence, but what he says is crap.

The “Oh yeah, Toy Story 7? Watched that, good movie” type of guy.

He also describes Tom’s appearance, which will be an important detail later.

He is also ginger—VERY, VERY ginger.

He is white as snow all year round.

Anyway, Tom, my girlfriend, his girlfriend, and I went down to the beach one day.

This couple made sure they brought sun protection.

I tan really well, and so does my girlfriend.

We brought tanning oil to the beach.

It is 3 SPF and does a good job getting me and her golden.

Tom usually needed a much higher SPF.

He brought his 50 SPF sun cream his mother packed him.

We were 18 at the time, and he wasn’t very independent.

So when Tom asked for some of his tanning oil, he tried to warn Tom it was a bad idea.

He asked me if he could have some.

I said yes, but you really don’t want any of this—you don’t tan, mate.

He told me he would be fine and that he’d just have to reapply more.

I explained that this isn’t sun cream and it won’t offer him any protection, to which he said, “Don’t be stupid, it has SPF in it.”

He kept trying to warn Tom to reconsider, but he just wouldn’t listen.

I explained to him for 10–15 minutes that it was a horrible idea.

By that time, I was hot and bothered and wanted to go into the sea.

His girlfriend, who was applying lotion and getting lotion applied by my girlfriend, now tuned in and said he was being foolish and he should use the sun cream.

But Tom just couldn’t be reasoned with.

This made him double down.

He basically said, “Give it here.”

“Sure, mate,” I responded.

“You can use it if you want to, but don’t blame me for the consequences.”

Soon, the consequences of his actions went into full effect.

I went in the sea with my girlfriend, and he fell asleep in the sun.

I woke him up 20 minutes later, and he was RED.

I took a picture of him and showed him. He freaked out and got annoyed that I let him do this to himself.

So they all went home and Tom was forced to sit with what he’d done.

I told him to get his stuff and we’d go home.

He spent the rest of the day in an ice bath.

What a muppet.

Tom was warned many times, so you can’t feel too bad for him.

What did Reddit think?

Some people just refuse to admit they don’t know everything about everything.

This user smells a new viral TikTok sensation.

Some people want to fit in at any cost.

Sunburns aren’t something to mess around with.

Sometimes you just can’t reason with a know-it-all.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.